In mobile communication networks it is known to direct network traffic related to a specific service to a bearer with a certain quality of service (QoS). In this respect, a bearer is considered to be an information transmission context or path of defined characteristics, e.g. capacity, delay and/or bit error rate. Typically, a number of bearers will be established between a gateway of a mobile communication network and a user equipment, e.g. a mobile phone or other type of mobile terminal. A bearer may carry downlink (DL) data traffic in a direction from the network to the user equipment, and may carry data traffic in an uplink (UL) direction from the user equipment to the network. In the gateway and in the user equipment the data traffic, which includes a plurality of IP data packets (IP: “Internet Protocol”) can be filtered using IP 5-tuple packet filters, thereby directing the IP data packets to a desired bearer.
Specifically, it is desired to direct data traffic relating to a specific service, e.g. mobile TV, to a bearer offering a certain QoS. For this purpose, DL data traffic may be subjected to a packet inspection so as to identify data packets relating to a specific service. When data packets of a predefined service are detected, this may be signalled to a policy controller. The policy controller may then generate corresponding packet filters and signal these packet filters to the gateway. The gateway then uses the received packet filters to route the data packets to a desired bearer. The bearer typically has a QoS class which was chosen by the network operator for the specific service. In this process, there may also be signalling to the user equipment, e.g. for establishing the bearer and indicating UL packet filters to the user equipment, which should be used to route UL data traffic onto the bearer.
However, the known solution may have problems in that a service may frequently open or close IP packet flows associated with the same service, e.g. as done by certain peer-to-peer file sharing applications. In this case, the result would be extensive signalling so as to establish the packet filters for routing the data packets onto the desired bearer. In addition, the routing of DL data traffic using IP 5-tuple based packet filters requires significant processing resources in the gateway. Further, it may in some cases be difficult or impossible for a packet inspection function to sufficiently describe IP packet flows associated with a specific service and to signal this to the policy controller. For example, this may be the case if the IP packet flows are encrypted or if the service is associated with a large number of IP packet flows, e.g. in the case of certain peer-to-peer file sharing applications.
Accordingly, there is a need for powerful and efficient techniques for handling network traffic, which allow for assigning data traffic of a specific service a desired QoS level.